robovsroleTell them apart

Which to use

“robo” and “role” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#47,698
“robo” frequency rank
#35,998
“role” frequency rank
83696
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature robo role
Definition Vokativ Singular des Substantivs roba die Rolle

Letter map: robo vs role

Shared letters muted; letters that set robo and role apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. robo and role follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
robo
4 ch
role

Corpus notes: robo and role

robo and role are indexed as a confusable German pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 83696, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

robo is recorded at frequency rank #47,698, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈrɔ̂bɔ]. role is at rank #35,998, tagged as anoun, pronounced […].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 83696, this pair ranks #135,664 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of robo vs role

Shared letters: or. Private to "robo": b. Private to "role": el.

"robo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "role" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • robo ← orbo · rboo · robbo · roob · rrobo
  • role ← orle · rloe · roel · rrole

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "robo" for "role" ever safe?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "robo" vs "role" - which ranks higher?
"role" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,998 in our German list, against #47,698 for "robo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "robo" and "role".

  • Full dictionary entry for "robo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "role" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #135,664 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "robo" and "role" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "robo vs RUB". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #135,664 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list